The National Anthem of Sweden

Sweden's de facto anthem"Du Gamla, Du Fria" (Thou Ancient, Thou Free) was written in 1844. The author of the lyrics, Richard Dybeck, chose a Swedish folk tune from the province of Västmanland to set his words to to create the anthem. The song was created at a time when a "pan-Scandinavian" movement was strong, which is why it is a "Song to the North" instead of just to Sweden. This has led to other verses being written that are more patriotic to Sweden, but these additional verses have never gained popularity and have never been considered part of the national anthem.

In the late 19th century the anthem started to be considered as Sweden's "national anthem", differentiating it from the royal anthem that was being used as both a royal and national anthem. The anthem has never been officially legislated as Sweden's national anthem, one attempt in the 1930s by a member of parliament brought forth claims of wanting state controlled patriotism by the opposition.

Richard Dybeck (1 September 1811 – 28 July 1877) was a Swedish jurist, antiquarian and lyricist, mainly remembered as the author of the lyrics to what is now the (de facto) Swedish national anthem: Du gamla, Du fria.

Dybeck was born in a mansion in the town Köping, in Västmanland. He was the son of a clergyman, went to gymnasium in Västerås, and later matriculated at Uppsala University in 1831. He completed his civil service degree in law (hovrättsexamen) in 1834 and entered the Svea hovrätt appeal court. He held a number of positions in the court system during the following years, but eventually began to spend all his time on his antiquarian and historical research. He was also a poet.

The postcard above shows the anthem score and lyrics of the Swedish national anthem.

The The National Anthem of Brittany

Brittany, a region of France, has a culture and language all its own (the language is more Celtic than French). Like other Celtic regions of the area, such as Cornwall, the anthem melody used is taken from the Welsh anthem, composed by James James (with some minor note changes). The lyrics were written by François Taldir-Jaffrennou in 1897 and the adaptation of the Welsh anthem was first published the following year, with the appropriate title "Henvelidigez" ("Adaptation"). It was adopted as the Breton national anthem (and a song of Welsh-Breton friendship) in 1903 at a meeting of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne, a Breton cultural and political organization.

Francois-Joseph-Claude Jaffrennou (March 15, 1879 - March 26, 1956) was a Breton language writer and editor. He was a Breton nationalist and a neo-druid bard. He is also known as François Taldir-Jaffrennou, since he also used the Druidic name Taldir ("Wall of Steel"). He was one of the pioneers of the Breton autonomist movement.

On 18 July 1899, Jaffrennou visited the Eisteddfod in Cardiff with twenty one other Bretons. He was received at Gorsedd under the name Taldir ab Hernin. At this time he translated the Welsh national anthem Land of my Fathers into Breton as Bro Gozh ma Zadoù, which became the national anthem of Brittany. This hymn is now recognized and accepted by all political and cultural groups in Brittany. It was originally published in

1898 in La Résistance.

On 7 August 1944, Jaffrennou was arrested by members of the French resistance on charges of having served the enemy and supported Pétain. He was also accused of wantingng to make Brittany an independent country within a Nazi dominated Europe. He was acquitted and released. On 10 August 1944, he was arrested again. After a brief incarceration at the Chateau Lancien in Carhaix, he was taken to the St Charles prison in Quimper. In early June 1945, he was transferred to Mesgloaguen, another prison. He was charged with acts which might harm the national defense, association with the Germans and denunciation of patriots. He was put on trial before the Court of Justice.

Released in 1946 he never returned to Brittany. In 1947 he resumed the leadership of the Gorsedd. He retired to Le Mans and then to Bergerac, where he died on March 23, 1956. He is buried in Carhaix.

Above is a postcard with the score of the national anthem of Brittany. Below is an envelope with the national anthem.

Esperanto "La Espero" (The Hope)

"La Espero" ("The Hope") is a poem written by L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917), the initiator of the Esperanto language. The song is often used as the anthem of Esperanto, and is now usually sung to a triumphal march composed by Frenchman Félicien Menu de Ménil (although there is an earlier, less martial tune created in 1891 by Claes Adelsköld, as well as a number of others less well-known). It is sometimes referred to as the hymn of the Esperanto movement.

Some Esperantists object to the use of terms like "hymn" or "anthem" for La Espero, arguing that these terms have religious and nationalist overtones respectively.

Probably the only language in the world with its own flag and anthem, the word "Esperanto" translates as "hope" or "hoping one" and also provides the title of the anthem of the language. The anthem speaks of the goal of the language, to bind the nations together with a common language in peace.

Above is a postcard with the score and lyrics of "La Espero", the Esperanto anthem.

Postcards from Monaco

I recently found these two vintage postcards from Monaco which shows the musical score of the Monaco anthem. One picture features the Monte Carlo Theater and the other a scene at a rose plantation.

The Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo, is an opera and ballet house, and the headquarters of the Ballets de Monte Carlo. It is a part of a casino complex that is one of the most notable tourist attractions in Monaco. It is situated in the Monte Carlo quarter, and citizens of Monaco are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms.

It hosts the annual European Poker Tour Grand Final. The casino is owned by the Société des Bains de Mer (a public company, in which the government holds a majority interest. This corporation also owns the principal hotels and clubs of the community that serve the tourist trade. The route of the Monaco Grand Prix (the Circuit de Monaco) runs past the casino. The Grand Prix is a Formula One race done annually in Monaco.

In the second postcard, a beautiful scene showing children and their moms harvesting roses. I tried to Google "Rose plantations in Monaco" and nothing significant comes up. Considering Monaco's development, this wonderful plantation in the postcard is probably non-existent today.

The National Anthem of Belgium

The Belgium anthem had its genesis when Belgium gained its independence in 1830. The popular legend goes that it was written by some young people in a cafe on Fource St. in Brussels in September 1830. While the story may or may not be true, the anthem does date back to that time. In 1860, the anti-Dutch lyrics were softened and the version that is in use today was created. When Dechet (better known as "Jenneval") wrote his verses, he called the poem 'La Bruxelloise'. His publisher thought it better to broaden the scope from the city's to the area's name (Brabant) and renamed it "La Brabançonne" (Song of Brabant).

The music was written in September of 1830 and the first public performance of the anthem occurred the following month. Finally, in 1921, it was decreed that only the fourth stanza of the 1860 lyrics are official in the French and Dutch versions. However, an official version of the "Brabançonne" does not actually exist. Different commissions have been established to examine the words and melody of the song and establish an official version. Yet, all of their efforts had been in vain. The words were written by Louis-Alexandre Dechet (original French) and Victor Ceulemans (Dutch translation). The music was composed by François van Campenhout.

François van Campenhout (5 February 1779 – 24 April 1848) was a Belgian opera singer, conductor and composer. Campenhout was born in Brussels, where he studied violin. He worked initially as an office clerk, but soon pursued a career as a musician. After he had been a violinist at the Theatre de la Monnaie (or Muntschouwburg) in Brussels for a while, he started a career as a tenor at the Opera in Ghent. This was the beginning of a successful opera career, which brought him to Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam, The Hague, Lyon and Bordeaux. In 1828, he ended his career as a singer and became conductor in Brussels, where he died in 1848.

Campenhout wrote a large number of works: operas such as Grotius ou le Château de Lovesteyn and Passe-Partout, which were successful, and he also composed ballet music, symphonies and choir music. Van Campenhout was a freemason and a member of the Grand Orient of Belgium.

Above is a postcard with the French version of the Belgian national anthem.

The National Anthem of Japan

While in use since the early 1880s as a national anthem on a de facto basis, and the words to the anthem are from the tenth century or earlier, making "Kimigayo" the oldest national anthem in that sense, the government only officially adopted the anthem in 1999.

The government presented its interpretation of the meaning of the anthem "Kimigayo" in the Diet during the deliberation of a bill to codify the country's national flag and anthem. At the plenary session of the House of Representatives of the Diet held on June 29, 1999, Prime Minister Obuchi explained as follows: "Kimi in 'Kimigayo', under the current Constitution of Japan, indicates the Emperor, who is the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power; 'Kimigayo' as a whole depicts the state of being of our country, which has the Emperor–deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power– as the symbol of itself and of the unity of the people; and it is appropriate to interpret the words of the anthem as praying for the lasting prosperity and peace of our country."

It is not known who first wrote the words of the anthem. They first appeared in the Kokinshu, a collection "of ancient and modern poems" dating from the tenth century. From very early times, the poem was recited to commemorate auspicious occasions and at banquets celebrating important events. The words were often put to music and were also used in fairy tales and other stories and even appeared in the Edo-period popular fiction known as ukiyo-zoshi and in collections of humorous kyoka (mad verse).

When the Meiji period began in 1868 and Japan made its start as a modern nation, there was not yet anything called a "national anthem." In 1869 the British military band instructor John William Fenton, who was then working in Yokohama, learned that Japan lacked a national anthem and told the members of Japan's military band about the British national anthem "God Save the King." Fenton emphasized the necessity of a national anthem and proposed that he would compose the music if someone would provide the words. The band members requested Artillery Captain Oyama Iwao, who was well versed in Japanese and Chinese history and literature, to select appropriate words for such an anthem. Fenton put his own music to the "Kimigayo" words selected by Oyama, and the first "Kimigayo" anthem was the result. The melody was, however, completely different from the one known today. It was performed, with the accompaniment of brass instruments, during an army parade in 1870, but it was later considered to be lacking in solemnity, and it was agreed that a revision was needed.

In 1876, Osamu Yusuke, the director of the Naval Band, submitted to the Navy Ministry a proposal for changing the music, and on the basis of his proposal it was decided that the new melody should reflect the style used in musical chants performed at the imperial court. In July 1880, four persons were named to a committee to revise the music. They were Naval Band director Nakamura Yusuke; Army Band director Yotsumoto Yoshitoyo; the court director of gagaku (Japanese court music) performances, Hayashi Hiromori; and a German instructor under contract with the navy, Franz Eckert. Finally a melody produced by Hiromori Hayashi was selected on the basis of the traditional scale used in gagaku. Eckert made a four-part vocal arrangement, and the new national anthem was first performed in the imperial palace on the Meiji Emperor's birthday, November 3, 1880. This was the beginning of the "Kimigayo" national anthem we know today. (nationalanthems.info)

The postcard above features the musical score of Japan's national anthem, Kimigayo

The National Anthem of Jersey

"Ma Normandie" is the semi-official anthem of the Bailiwick of Jersey, a British Crown dependency in the Channel Islands, and was written and composed by Frédéric Bérat, a French composer and songwriter. Jersey is historically part of the Duchy of Normandy, and French has been for centuries an official administrative language of Jersey, whose inhabitants have traditionally spoken a variety of Norman language.

Although "Ma Normandie" is used by Jersey at Commonwealth Games, Island Games and other international events where it is necessary for territories that otherwise use "God Save the Queen" to be distinguished, the fact that the song refers to France rather than to Jersey means that a body of opinion has campaigned for a change of anthem.

In 2007 the States of Jersey undertook to find a new, official, Anthem by means of an open competition. The final judging of the competition took place with a public performance of the short-listed pieces on 30 April, 2008. The short-listed composers were: Derek Lawrence, Gerard Le Feuvre, James Taberner and a joint composition by Kevin Porée and Matheson Bayley; the traditional song "Beautiful Jersey"/"Man Bieau P'tit Jèrri" was also included in the shortlist. The winner of the competition was declared to be "Island Home" composed by Gerard Le Feuvre.

The anthem was apparently inspired by the sounds of Jersey wildlife (the opening three notes, if played two octaves lower, are apparently the lowing of a Jersey cow), Jersey poetry, and Jersey folk music, and was written independently of the contest, in 2002. Lyrics were written both in English and in Jèrriais, a version of the Norman language spoken on the island.

Above is a postcard with a score of the Jersey semi-official anthem "Ma Normandie". Below is another postcard with lyrics and score.

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III Stamps

Last July 26, 2010, the Philippine Postal Corporation issued two new stamps of President Benigno S. Aquino III. It is classified as a “Special” kind of issue with denominations of P 7.00 and P 40.00 and quantity of 350,000 pieces and 100,000 pieces, respectively.

The said stamps relive the historical moments of President Aquino’s inaugural speech and oath-taking last June 30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park. These newly issued stamps are a nice addition to the Commemorative stamps and first day cover issued on the day of his inauguration last June 30, 2010.

The technical description of the President Benigno S. Aquino III stamps are as follows: Kind of Issue: Special, Denomination and Quantity: Php7.00 / 350,000 pieces, Php 40.00/100,000 pieces, Date of Issue: July 26, 2010, Last date of Sale: July 25, 2011 (or as stocks allow), Size: 40 mm x 30 mm (Php 7.00), 30 mm x 40 mm (Php 40.00), Sheet Composition: 16 on (4 x 4), Kind of Printing: Litho offset, Paper: Unwatermarked, Printer: Amstar Company, Inc., Photographer: Jay Narvaez Morales, Designer/ Layout Artist: Jesus Alfredo Delos Santos, Design Coordinators: Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak, Elenita San Diego, Design: Oathtaking and the Inaugural Speech of President Benigno S. Aquino III last June 30, 2010 at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park.

"Rise O Voices of Rhodesia"

When Rhodesia first declared its independence in 1965, it was a member of the British Commonwealth, and retained the Queen as the head of state, therefore "God Save the Queen" was the national anthem until Rhodesia became a republic in 1970, and ties were severed with the United Kingdom. Rhodesia then did not have a national anthem until a national competition was held and "Rise O Voices of Rhodesia" was declared as the anthem on 26th August 1974. Using Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (which was also used at the time as the anthem of the European Union, and still is today) as the melody, the lyrics were composed by a South African born resident of Gwelo, Mary Bloom.

The white majority rule was ended in 1979 (and the country was renamed Zimbabwe-Rhodesia), and the nation of Zimbabwe was created the following year.

1. Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
God may we thy bounty share,
Give us strength to face all danger,
And, where challenge is, to dare.

Guide us, Lord, to wise decision,
Ever of thy grace aware,
Oh, let our hearts beat bravely always,
For this land within thy care.

2. Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
Bringing her your proud acclaim,
Grandly echoing through the mountains,
Rolling over far flung plain.

Roaring in the mighty rivers,
Joining in one grand refrain,
Ascending to the sunlit heavens,
Telling of her honoured name.

The stamp above features Beethoven with the score Symphony no. 5 issued by North Korea.

Sheng on Stamps

The mouth organ Sheng was designed in China about 3000 years ago. The pipes are stopped with the fingers. When the piped are not stopped, the air causes the free metal reeds to vibrate. In more modern instruments, the reeds are made of brass and tuned with wax. The sheng's elegant shape reminds of the mythical phoenix. It consists of a mouthpiece, which may vary in shape, a wind-chest, and pipes.

In China, four of the seventeen pipes serve only as decoration; in Japan only two serve this purpose. In modern shengs, all pipes are functional, encompassing the chromatic octave a1-a2 and four higher diatonic notes. The sheng became popular in the 11th century B.C.. In Europe it attracted attention in the 18th century, when the free reed principle was used in a number of Western instruments, such as the harmonium and the accordion. In the East, the sheng is used as a solo instrument and in ensembles.

The stamp was issued by Macao in 1986

Kulintang on Stamps

Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of the larger gong-chime culture of Southeast Asia, kulintang music ensembles have been playing for many centuries in regions of the Eastern Malay Archipelago — the Southern Philippines, Eastern Indonesia, Eastern Malaysia, Brunei and Timor, although this article has a focus on the Philippine Kulintang traditions of the Maranao and Maguindanao peoples in particular. Kulintang evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs from Sunda. Its importance stems from its association with the indigenous cultures that inhabited these islands prior to the influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity or the West, making Kulintang the most developed tradition of Southeast Asian archaic gong-chime ensembles.

Technically, kulintang is the Maguindanao, Ternate and Timor term for the idiophone of metal gong kettles which are laid horizontally upon a rack to create an entire kulintang set. It is played by striking the bosses of the gongs with two wooden beaters. Due to its use across a wide variety groups and languages, the kulintang is also called kolintang by the Maranao and those in Sulawesi, kulintangan, gulintangan by those in Sabah and the Sulu Archipelago and totobuang by those in central Maluku.

By the twentieth century, the term kulintang had also come to denote an entire Maguindanao ensemble of five to six instruments. Traditionally the Maguindanao term for the entire ensemble is basalen or palabunibunyan, the latter term meaning “an ensemble of loud instruments” or “music-making” or in this case “music-making using a kulintang.”

The stamp was issued on February 16, 2009. "Ani sa Sining", a set of four, depicting Philippine arts and culture.

Manuel S. Enverga on Stamps

Dr. Manuel S. Enverga, founder: president of the Luzonian University which he converted into a foundation that now bears his name, the Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation in Lucena City, and Representative of the First District of Quezon from 1953 to 1968, spent the remaining years of his retirement from politics nurturing the growth of the higher education institution he founded to provide affordable, relevant, and quality education to his countrymen and to write about his vision for the country, foremost of which was to advance the nationalist cause .

A staunch nationalist, Congressman Enverga authored the change of the celebration of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12 which President Diosdado Macapagal adopted and signed into an executive order. He also spearheaded the reexamination of Philippine foreign policy to open trade, scientific and economic cooperation with socialist countries to reduce dependence on the traditional American market, an advocacy that was clearly ahead of his time. Congressman Enverga has advanced the nationalist cause to a remarkable degree by the sober way in which he spearheaded the move to make foreign policy long shackled to antiquated but no less dangerous cold war myths responsive to the realities of the 1960s.

One of his major speeches in the House of Representatives which dwelt on the military danger and economic disadvantages posed by the American bases in the country has earned the praise of his more enlightened colleagues in the intellectual community. Congressman Enverga has also conceptualized the archipelagic principle that has now been enshrined in the definition of the country’s boundaries under the Philippine Constitution. He was born on January 1, 1909 and celebrates his centenary on January 1, 2009.

The stamp was issued on January 5, 2009